At 12:05 AM 9/8/95, Tobin T Fricke wrote:

...

letting it happen, and using cash instead of credit, is the smart answer

I'm somewhat surprized at how much of an issue this is. The federal government prints up nice green paper for us to pay for things with. It's annonymous (to a large extent), univerally accepted (most of the time), fairly untracably (unless you really want to), easily available, doesn't collect interest, free to use, etc. No one is forcing anyone to use credit cards, etc.. Then again, being a kid, I have never bought anything with anything other than cash on the spot...

I agree with what I think your sentiment is, but bear in mind that "cash transactions" are in fact limited by various laws and regulations about reporting cash payments. Try buying a car with cash, especially a car costing over $10,000. Black Unicorn posted an account a while back (sometime last year) of his efforts to pay cash for a new car. The restrictions on cash are mostly oriented toward ostensibly stopping "drug profits" from being used to buy expensive items. The usual cash figure that invokes special laws is $10,000, with "structuring" of sub-$10K cash transfers an additional issue. I foresee more restrictions coming, not fewer. Several of us have written extensively on this subject. --Tim May ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."